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United States Patent |
5,279,087
|
Mann
|
January 18, 1994
|
Smoke seal
Abstract
A fire and smoke seal assembly including an elongate casing housing
intumescent material and a flexible elongate seal member projecting from
the casing, the casing and seal member being co-extruded from compatible
plastics materials so as to be integrally connected, the flexible elongate
seal member extending along and adjacent to one side of the casing.
Inventors:
|
Mann; Robert M. (Exeter, GB3)
|
Assignee:
|
Lorient Polyproducts Limited (GB)
|
Appl. No.:
|
868603 |
Filed:
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April 14, 1992 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
Current U.S. Class: |
52/232; 49/477.1 |
Intern'l Class: |
E04C 002/00 |
Field of Search: |
52/232,716
49/477,486,475
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
4246304 | Jan., 1981 | Dixon | 52/232.
|
4963403 | Oct., 1990 | Roberts et al. | 52/716.
|
Foreign Patent Documents |
3720287 | Jan., 1989 | DE | 52/232.
|
2335134 | Jul., 1977 | FR.
| |
7613604 | Jun., 1977 | NL | 52/232.
|
2070114 | Sep., 1981 | GB.
| |
2092214 | Aug., 1982 | GB.
| |
Primary Examiner: Friedman; Carl D.
Assistant Examiner: Smith; Creighton
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Jones & Askew
Claims
I claim:
1. A fire and smoke seal assembly comprising:
an elongate casing housing intumescent material, the casing having a corner
defined at the junction of a first wall and a side wall defining a side
face of the casing; and
a flexible elongate seal member projecting beyond said first wall and
having a root portion integrally connected to said corner so that the
elongate flexible member extends along and to said side wall in order to
provide a continuous smoke seal along one side of the casing;
the casing and seal member being co-extruded from compatible plastics
material and the root portion being integrally connected to said corner via
an interface inclined relative to said first wall, such that the root
portion does into project substantially beyond the thickness of said side
wall.
2. A seal assembly according to claim 1, wherein the casing is generally
rectangular in cross-section.
3. A seal assembly according to claim 2, wherein the elongate seal member
comprises a blade or lip.
4. A seal assembly according to claim 3, wherein the blade or lip has a
side face which is contiguous with said side face of the casing.
5. A seal assembly according to claim 1, wherein the casing is extruded
from a rigid plastic material.
6. A seal assembly according to claim 1 wherein a further seal member is
co-extruded with the casing, the further seal member being located
in-board from said seal member.
7. A seal assembly according to claims 1 or 6 wherein the or each seal
member is formed from a flexible thermoplastic.
8. A seal assembly according to claim 7 wherein the thermoplastic is an
elastomer.
9. A fire and smoke seal assembly comprising:
an elongate casing housing intumescent material;
a flexible elongate seal member projection beyond a wall of the casing and
integrally connected to said wall of the casing;
the casing and seal member being co-extruded from compatible plastic
materials so as to integrally connect the flexible elongate member to said
wall;
the flexible elongate seal member extending along and adjacent to one side
of the casing so as to provide a continuous smoke seal along the one side;
the casing being generally rectangular in cross-section and the flexible
seal member extending along and projecting from a corner edge of the
casing;
the elongate seal member comprising a blade or lip having a root portion
integrally connected with a corner of the casing, the corner of the casing
being defined at the junction of said wall and a side wall defining a side
face of the casing; and
the blade or lip having a side face which is contiguous with said side face
of the casing.
Description
The present invention relates to a fire and smoke seal assembly primarily
intended for providing a fire and smoke seal between a door and its
supporting frame.
It is known to provide a fire and smoke seal assembly which includes an
elongate casing housing intumescent material for providing a fire seal and
a flexible elongate seal member projecting from the housing for providing
a smoke seal. The flexible elongate seal member is separately formed with
the casing and normally comprises a brush element or a blade element which
is received in a groove formed in the casing.
In use, the casing is located in a groove formed either in a door surround
or an edge face of the door such that the seal member extends across the
gap between the closed door and its surround. The groove is formed
centrally relative to the door edge face so that in the event of a fire on
either side of the door the performance of the intumescent material within
the seal assembly is the same.
Ideally the width of the casing is a maximum within the constraints of the
width of the door edge face so as to provide a wide face for exuding the
intumescent material.
The provision of a smoke seal on the casing in conventional constructions
either restricts the available width of the casing for housing intumescent
material or requires an increase of height which would lead to delay in
activation of the seal under fire conditions. In addition, when securing
hinges to the door or surround, it is normal practice to rebate the door
or surround to accommodate the hinge and in view of the width restraint on
a door or surround, the hinge rebate normally passes through the seal
assembly. Accordingly, in the region of a hinge at least the smoke seal is
removed and thereby provides a passageway for smoke in the event of a
fire.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a fire
and smoke seal assembly including an elongate casing housing intumescent
material and a flexible elongate seal member projecting from the casing,
the casing and seal member being co-extruded from compatible plastics
materials so as to be integrally connected, the flexible elongate seal
member extending along and adjacent to one side edge of the casing.
Preferably the casing is generally rectangular in cross-section and the
flexible seal member extends along and projects from a corner edge of the
casing. In this manner the seal element is located at one side extremity
of the casing and thereby enables the casing to present a full width face
through which the intumescent material may exude. At the same time, the
height of the casing does not have to be increased in order to accommodate
a separate flexible sealing element.
Location of the flexible seal member to one extreme side of the casing
enables a hinge rebate to extend across the door edge face or surround by
a substantial proportion of the available width without interfering with
the smoke seal.
Various aspects of the present invention are hereinafter described with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a door and surround including a
fire and smoke seal assembly according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a more detailed schematic view of part of the door and surround
shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the fire and smoke seal assembly shown
in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 3 of another embodiment
according to the present invention.
Referring initially to FIG. 1 there is shown a door 10 hingedly mounted in
a door surround or frame 11 by a pair of hinges 12.
A fire and smoke seal assembly 20 is mounted in the frame 11 and extends
along all 3 sides so as to completely surround the side and top edges of
the door. Although the assembly 20 is shown mounted in the frame it will
be appreciated that the assembly may alternatively be mounted within the
door edges.
As shown in FIG. 3 the assembly 20 includes a hollow casing 22 in which is
housed an intumescent material 24. A suitable intumescent material is
Palusol (RTM).
An elongate seal member 26 in the form of a blade or lip is provided which
is located at one side of the casing 22. In use the terminal tip of the
lip engages against the opposing edge of the door to create a smoke seal.
In the example of FIG. 1, the lip of the assembly extending along the
hinge side of the frame will be engaged by edge 10a of door 10 and placed
under compression on closing of the door. The lips of the assemblies
extending along the other side of the frame will wipe across the faces of
edges 10b and 10c.
The seal member 26 has a base or root portion 28 which is integrally
connected with the casing 22. The casing 22 is formed from a plastics
material and the casing and seal member 26 are preferably co-extruded in
order to provide the integral connection.
Preferably the casing 22 is rectangular in cross-section and the root
portion 28 is located at one corner edge 30 between the front face 31 and
a side face 32 of the casing. This enables an inclined interface 38 to be
provided so that the root portion 28 may have a relatively thick dimension
to provide good anchorage, without the root portion projecting
substantially beyond the thickness of the wall of the casing defining side
face 32. Thus the full width of face 31 is available for the intumescent
material to exude through.
Preferably a side face 60 of the seal member is contiguous with side face
32 so as to define a flush transition between faces 60 and 32.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, a supplementary blade seal member 70 may be
provided if desired. Seal member 70 is of the same construction as seal
member 26 and is also co-extruded with casing 22 to provide an integral
connection. If desired, seal members 26,70 may be of different heights.
The interface 73 between blade member 70 and the wall of the casing
defining face 31 is preferably generally `V` shaped in order to provide a
relatively wide interface for good anchorage. More than one supplementary
seal member 70 may be provided if desired.
The casing 22 is preferably formed from a rigid plastics material such as
rigid polyvinylchloride and the seal members 26,70 are preferably formed
from a flexible thermoplastics such as polyvinylchloride or a flexible
thermoplastics elastomer which is compatible with the rigid
polyvinylchloride.
In use the seal assembly 20 is mounted in a groove which is located
centrally relative to the door edge. The side of the assembly 20 carrying
the seal member 26 is located furthest away from the side of the surround
on which the pivot of the hinge 12 is located.
Thus as seen in FIG. 2, the seal member 26 is located by a substantial
distance d from the edge 11a of the frame 11 and this distance d is chosen
to be in excess of the width w of the hinge plate 12a. Accordingly
formation of a rebate to accommodate hinge plate 12a does not destroy seal
member 26 and so a continuous smoke seal is provided along the hinged side
of the door.
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